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Feb 24 2014

Beginner Developer Series: Computer Softwares

As part of a computer setup, there are some essential programs one needs to have installed. Personally, here is my suite of programs that I install on a clean machine.

First and foremost, there is an awesome site called Ninite that helps setup Windows machines. From Ninite, I always install the following.
Software: Ninite

  • Web Browsers
    • Chrome
    • Opera
    • Firefox
  • Utilities: WinDirStat (helps find large files)
  • Messaging
    • Skype
    • Thunderbird (free email client, alt. to MS Outlook)
  • Media
    • iTunes (music/video)
    • VLC (video player, plays everything)
    • Audacity (audio editing)
    • Spotify (better radio than iTunes)
    • QuickTime
  • Runtimes *REQUIRED
    • Java
    • .NET
    • Silverlight
    • Air
    • Shockwave
  • Compression: 7-zip (helps find large files)
  • Imaging
    • GIMP (optional, if you do not have PhotoShop)
    • Inkscape (optional, if you do not have Illustrator)
  • Documents
    • OpenOffice (optional, free alternative to MS Office)
    • Reader
  • Online Storage
    • Dropbox
    • Google Drive
    • SkyDrive
  • Developer Tools
    • Python (optional)
    • Filezilla (FTP/sFTP)
    • Notepad++ (Powerful Editor)
    • JDK (optional)
    • PuTTY (required for Git, etc.)
    • Eclipse (optional IDE)

Once you select all of these, you simply click "Get Installer," then run the installer, and go get some Starbucks for Brian Gardner's sake or a Mountain Dew for my sake. Simply walk away and do something else for a bit.

After these install, I also install the following softwares manually:

  • Adobe Creative Suite/Cloud Master Collection (par excellence design tool)
  • Latest Version of Internet Explorer
  • Safari for Windows
  • XAMPP: Local Apache & PHP server for rapid development.
  • MySQL Workbench: If you are used to MS SQL Server, then this will make you feel more at home.
  • Git for Windows (Download): For running Git from the command line.
  • TortoiseSVN: WordPress Core Trac Patches & use with Assembla SVN (free private SVN repos)
  • TortoiseGit: Use with Github & Bitbucket (free private Git repos)
  • Atlassian Source Tree: Windows GUI for Git (works with Github and Bitbucket)
  • Bitvise Tunnelier: SSH & FTP Client, better than PuTTY IMHO
  • NodeJS: Use with CSSLint, JSLint, Grunt, etc.
  • Git Credentials: Stores credentials so I don't have to enter them over and over again.
  • Screen Capturing Software: Jing and/or TinyGrab2
  • Cyberduck: Awesome FTP client for Amazon S3
  • Sublime Text: Premium Editor ($70)
  • phpStorm: Premium Editor ($99)

Did I miss anything from a Windows perspective?

Written by Travis Smith · Categorized: WordPress

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Comments

  1. Mike Paddy says

    February 24, 2014 at 12:05 pm

    Now how about Mac users…

    Reply
    • Travis Smith says

      February 24, 2014 at 11:45 pm

      The next time I stumble on a small pot of gold, I will purchase a Mac and write up a post about the Mac and its softwares for the purposes of development.

      Reply
  2. Brandon Speaks says

    February 28, 2014 at 5:56 am

    Mac lovers here you go: http://getmacapps.com/

    Reply

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